Tunisia and Seychelles record first win at World Championship qualifier

3 March 2014

2014 Men's World championship- Day 1 African qualifiers Pool V

Tunis, Tunisia, March 3, 2014- Tunisia and Seychelles start their campaign at the 2014 Men's World Championships qualification tournament, Pool V as winners when they defeated Niger and Senegal respectively in the opening day of the tournament held at Palais des Sports Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Monday.

Tunisia started the 5 nation tournament successfully aided by the local crowd to defeat Niger 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-12), while Seychelles surprised the more experienced Senegal with a 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-19) victory.

Seychelles v Senegal 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-19)

Seychelles used the quick attacks through position 3 to claim a victory 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-19) against Senegal in the opening match of the competition. Seychelles started the first set aggressively through strong service that put the Senegalese under pressure.

Senegal came back strongly in the second set after they improved their defense and blocking activity to win set and draw 1-1. Seychelles regained their starting rhythm to win both third and fourth sets and secured the first victory.

Tunisia v Niger 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-12)

Tunisia played with most of the line up to clinch a straight sets win over Niger (25-16, 25-13, 25-12) in 60 minutes. The Tunisian coach started the first set with the main line up and then he made frequent substitutions in the second set where he fielded some substitutes but the same strategy of using the spike services and strong attacke through the wing spikers maintained. The match showed a good come back for the Tunisian opposite Hicham El Kaabi who served very well and helped to put Niger team under big pressure in the third set when he scored 4 aces.

The winner of the round robin tournament will earn the third African ticket to the Men's World championship in Poland in August 30 to September 21.

Two African tickets to the Men's World Championship were already determined after Cameroon won pool T in Yaoundé and Egypt clinched Pool U in Nairobi.